Building Materials
BASIC SCIENCE JSS1 second term
Sub-Theme: Drawing practice
Theme Materials and processing
WEEK 1
Building materials
Performance objectives
Students should be able to:
- Define building material
- Identify the various types of building materials
Content
Building materials
A building is a relatively permanent enclosed construction over a plot of land, having a roof and usually windows and often more than one level used for any of a wide variety of activities as living, entertaining or manufacturing. It is a structure constructed using any type of material and for whatsoever purpose be it residential, commercial, industrial or others.

Structure of a building
Building materials is any material used for construction purposes. Many naturally occurring substances such as clay, rock, sand and wood even twigs and leaves have been used to construct buildings.
The following are the various types of building materials
- Wood
- Concrete
- Glass
- Cement
- Steel
- Plastic
- Brick (clay)
- Aluminium
- Sand
Identification of building by material
Buildings are identified by the types of materials with which they are erected. They are:
- Mud building: these are erected with loamy or clay soil which has been properly treated to plastic nature.
- Brick building: bricks are moulded from dried mortar (a mixture of cement, sand and lime and at times clay burnt in a kiln.
There are two types of building which are
- The sun-dried brick
- The fire burnt bricks (Red brick)